MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

7/29 Gregg, Ironman Hill & quick hits

The one Cubs reliever who did not pitch Monday and Tuesday was Kevin Gregg. The right-hander is fine; he had pitched in seven of the team’s first 10 games since the All-Star break.

“I think [Lou Piniella] was trying to give me a day off,” Gregg said. “It was kind of weird having a day off, actually.”

Gregg has saved three of the last six games, and picked up save No. 21 on Sunday against the Reds. This is his third consecutive 20-save season and he’s the first Cubs closer to total 20 saves in his first season with the Cubs since LaTroy Hawkins had 25 in 2004.

There are no histrionics with Gregg. He’s very even keel.

“You never want to get too high, you never want to get too low,” he said. “Our job is to get people out. You get people out, and you walk off the field. That’s how I’ve always looked at it. That’s why I go up there, to get people out. I’m not going to celebrate that. I’m also not going to beat myself up for giving up a run because it happens. I’ve never seen anybody go through a season without giving up a run.”

And what does he think of pitchers who do a lot of fist-pumping and gyrations after a save?

“I don’t like it,” he said. “To each his own. It kind of looks like garbage out there, personally. Everybody does their own thing.”

You might see a little fist pump, though, from Gregg.

“Maybe after a big play I might give it one of these [fist pump] if it was a good play,” he said. “You won’t see me strike out a guy and do a little dance out there.”

* Koyie Hill started his 19th straight game behind the plate on Wednesday, the longest stretch since Damon Berryhill caught 25 in a row from May 13-June 9, 1989. The ironman duties are no big deal to Hill, who began the year as backup to Geovany Soto.

“Randy Hundley started 161,” Hill said.

Actually, Hundley started 156 games for the Cubs in 1968, played in 160, and totaled 1,385 innings behind the plate. The backups that year were Randy Bobb, who started two games, and Bill Plummer, who did not start a game. Hill, by the way, entered Wednesday’s game with 909 2/3 innings at catcher in his career.

* Carlos Zambrano was wearing a neck wrap on Wednesday. The problem? “Bad sleep,” he said.

* Ron Santo was scheduled to go with the team to Florida and Cincinnati but will miss the third city on the trip, and not be in Denver for the series vs. Colorado.

* B.J. Ryan made his first appearance in relief on Tuesday and pitched one inning for Triple-A Iowa. He threw about 11 pitches, and his fastball registered about 86-87 mph.

Probably not re: Fox. Hill is better at throwing runners out, and is good handling the pitchers and calling games. Lou talked about having Fox maybe starting with Wells, but even Fox admitted that Wells is a different pitcher now than the one he saw at the beginning of the season at Iowa.

GREAT USER NAME!
I’m o.k. with Hill and his weak bat doing all the catching, he does even occassionally come through with the bat, making some contact, an occasional run batted in, or advancing a runner. I’m more concerned with Soto returning and contributing offensivley. If he doesn’t hit he doesn’t have as much value as Hill as I think Hill calls a better game and handles the pitchers better. So we might still need a another catcher in the even Soto doesn’t hit well???

Cubs won’t win the division unless Jim Henry can get a replacement for Johnson. We need another bat…we have to find a decent centerfielder.
Trade Milton Bradley… eat his contract, he is a cancer to the team and looks rediculous at the plate!

I don’t know what anyone else thinks but this cubs team really doesn’t need much but a proven arm in their rotation. Zambrano will probabally cook out at the end, Lilly wont be the same after he comes back, Dempster wont have his control, I would hate to keep my eggs in the basket on 2 rookies Wells and Hart. I think we need Roy holliday, and or Jake Peavey, they have proven arms in the post season and are durable. And as for the bat in our lineup we don’t need it we have plenty of THE REPLACEMENTS to go around. Remember how slow Andre Dawson got started, this is Milton Bradley’s first season with the team give him a break. Everyone gets on the bandwagon if he is doing good but if he starts going off track everyone dumps him . Remember the playoffs the last 2 years. This is not REMEMBER THE TITANS this is THE REPLACEMENTS.

“Zambrano will probabally cook out at the end, Lilly wont be the same after he comes back, Dempster wont have his control, I would hate to keep my eggs in the basket on 2 rookies Wells and Hart. I think we need Roy holliday, and or Jake Peavey, they have proven arms in the post season and are durable. ”

Can you make your magic ball available to the rest of us? What possibly makes you think Z will cook out with the amount of rest he has had? This is the first issue with Lilly – why wont he be the same? and Dempster didn’t pitched for a month, of course he was rusty when he came back. As far as your “durable” Peavy – have you noticed the amount of time he has spent on the DL this year?

Carrie – I see rumors that the Cubs are going after Gorzelanny and Gabrow, who do you believe the Cubs are offering to get these guys? I really hope Wells would not be a part of any deal this year.

Wow, easily some of the dumbest comments. This isn’t your fantasy league, this is real life– try thinking in terms of– would that realistically happen?, or my favorite– do I really know what I’m talking about?

Trade Milton Bradley, eat his contract? Why would you say that? That is just ridiculous, not only has he kept his OBP steady regardless of his hitting, but especially now that he’s heating up… you need to stop watching Baseball Tonight, it’s clouding your logic.

firehendry took care of the other clown talking about the starting pitching. man, just shut up already. Regardless of what happened in the previous post seasons– we still have one of the best pitching staffs in the Majors, it is what it is, sure Peavy or Hallady would be great addition… to any team, but realistically, IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, so stop thinking about it.

I agree, in this real world no general manager in his right mind would accept Bradley in a trade so we have him whether we like it or not. On the other hand no general manager in his right mind would sign him to be a dominate left-handed bat when he was always a better right handed hitter to begin with, an inadequate defender, injury prone and a cry baby…but we have Hendry as a GM. I don’t care how much he’s STARTNG JUST NOW to heat up, in real life you need an entire season from your free agent left handed savior, not half a season. He really needs to not only heat up but go on a tear to help all us Cubs fans forget his dismal first half. I think we all know Bradley’s not going any where, the hope is…that Hendry will.
I think the passion, resentment and frustration can make some comments appear to be dumb, but if we’re expected to cut Bradley and Hendry some slack because they occassionally “show up to work” then the same needs to be said for us fans. Yeah that steady OBP of Bradley’s sure is what we all expected and his RBI? Wow, off the charts not to mention his left handed BA, fantastic, let’s sign a few more like him!!!

I agree, in this real world no general manager in his right mind would accept Bradley in a trade so we have him whether we like it or not. On the other hand no general manager in his right mind would sign him to be a dominate left-handed bat when he was always a better right handed hitter to begin with, an inadequate defender, injury prone and a cry baby…but we have Hendry as a GM. I don’t care how much he’s STARTNG JUST NOW to heat up, in real life you need an entire season from your free agent left handed savior, not half a season. He really needs to not only heat up but go on a tear to help all us Cubs fans forget his dismal first half. I think we all know Bradley’s not going any where, the hope is…that Hendry will.
I think the passion, resentment and frustration can make some comments appear to be dumb, but if we’re expected to cut Bradley and Hendry some slack because they occassionally “show up to work” then the same needs to be said for us fans. Yeah that steady OBP of Bradley’s sure is what we all expected and his RBI? Wow, off the charts not to mention his left handed BA, fantastic, let’s sign a few more like him!!!

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